prototyping the user experience

March 17, 2008

Social Network Silos

Social-networks today are largely independent silos. Each time I join a new social-network I have to re-invite or find all my friends again and again. I can't easily share content with all my friends unless they are also members of the social-network. If I want to keep track of the friends that are members I am locked into returning to that silo every time.

The term social-graph is used to describe the links between people. This is a term that Facebook has elevated as part of the discussion on the current state of social-networks. Facebook tends to imply that their social-graph of real people is their key property. Is it true that the social-graph can be claimed by a single company? The fact is that a social-network always revolves around a single node, that node is you. You, the consumer are at the center of that social-graph. The links in the graph are the relationships that belong to you and your friends.

What do real world social networks really look like? Your network of friends all have varied interests. Your friends all show different sides of themselves to you some more intimate that others. Your friends all go to different real world places with some overlap. Your friends are riding the long-tail and it's difficult to know when they are online where. If you are 22 you might have lost a few of your friends in WOW for the last few months and your not sure when they might re-surface.

It's important to recognize that social-networks need to be portable and owned by the end user. The end user should have control of their data and privacy. Portable should also include platforms not just social networking services. Why is it that my mobile phone address-book and my IM buddy-list on my PC are totally disconnected? So what is the platform is it Facebook? The platform is the Web of connected devices. In the end services come and go, products come and go. If we do things right your friends stick around. The open-social-graph will transform the Web from one about linking documents to one about linking people.